The Study

of
Educational
Psychology
What is Educational
Psychology?
 Educational
psychology
The science of human behavior
applied to the teaching and
learning processes.
Why study Human
Behavior?
Human behavior is an individual’s action in a given
situation. It is not random, it follow patterns, and,
in many cases, is predictable. Behavior maybe
predicted as reaction to external events; in turn,
it may precipitate other behavior.
 The MULTIDIMENSIONALITY

Teacher A teacher has to deal with many aspects and types of

behavior, including scheduling, observing, recording, reacting
to and evaluating it for a sizeable number of students,

Practitioner many whom may be doing different things.

SIMULTANEITY
Six All of these behavior may be occuring at the same

characteristics of
time.

the classroom
environment and IMMEDIACY
A teacher’s reactions must occur when the student
the teacher’s behaviors occurs.

role in it
 The UNPREDICTABILITY

Teacher A teacher cannot always anticipate what will happen

Practitioner PUBLIC NATURE OF THE CLASSROOM

Six Every student gets to see what a teacher does, even

characteristics of
if only with another students.

the classroom
environment and HISTORY
Students often anticipate and react to a teacher’s
the teacher’s prior behavior in a situation similar to one in the past.

role in it
 Applying Psychology
to Education
TRANSACTIONAL MODEL OF
THE TEACHING-LEARNING FACTORS IN TEACHING-
PROCESS LEARNING PROCESS
Illustrates the many factors that
combine to influence student
achievement, including the 1. Instructional manipulations
characteristics and behaviors of 2. Learner characteristics
students and teachers. 3. Learning processes
4. Learning outcomes
5. Outcome Performance
 Educational
Psychology and the
Role of the Teacher
CONSTRAINTS TO SCHOOL LEARNING VS
LIMITATIONS OF APPLYING NEW REAL-WORLD LEARNING
TEACHERS IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE School learning focuses on individual
performance because students are
APPLICATION OF Groups of students are evaluated as individuals. Real-world
EDUCATIONAL organized into classes, which learning, focuses on socially shared
often large, with teaching and performance because people work
PSYCHOLOGY learning confined to in teams and contribute to only a
classrooms. portion of the final outcome.
Characteristics of the Effective Teacher
AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL

Concern for student learning

Ability to communicate clearly
Ability to create a positive learning
environment
Knowledge of the content
Skills in teaching
Ability to organize and plan
effectively
High expectations for oneself and
students
 Think it Over

AS A LEARNER
Think of a teacher you have had who has been
effective. What were some of the characteristics
pf that teacher? Which, if any, of these
characteristics appear in the list earlier?

AS A TEACHER
Which two of the characteristics of effective
teachers do you feel would most important to you,
and how might you go about developing them in your
self?
Characteristics of the Effective Teacher
ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
John Dewey was one of the earliest advocates for considering the effects of
the environment on a given behavior.Studying an individual’s behavior within the
context of his or her environment.

INTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
Knowledge of and interest in subject matter
Effective communications skills
Cognitive flexibility
Fairness and expression of care and concern for students.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
'Behavior of students
Number of students in class
Size of classroom
Organization of classroom
Characteristics of the Effective Teacher

REFLECTIVE TEACHING

The process of asking questions about

your teaching and attempting to identify
answers.
Characteristics of the Effective Teacher
THINK IT OVER
As a learner: What was the last unexpected
situation or circumstance in which you had
little experience? How did you handle it?What
was the result? What did you learn from it

As a Teacher: How could you put the

experience you describe above and its result
to good use in a classroom?
 The Tenets of Science
Science is the identification, description, and explanation of naturally
occurring phenomena.
Observation- The process of recording something with reliable and
valid instruments.
Testable questions- Questions that are falsifiable or capable of being
disproved.
Replication- Conducting numerous, independent studies and collecting
information over a period of time to judge whether results are
consistent.
Parsimony- The scientific rule that the simpler of two competing
theories is the preferable theory.
 Facts, Principles,
Theories
Facts: Disconnected pieces of knowledge and
information.
for example: It is a fact that expecting to be in a
stressful situation makes a person anxious
THEORIES
Principles: Expand on and connect several facts, Collections of principles
help create meaning, and establish associations (which are based on
between facts. They are “if-then” statements facts) and are even more
For example: If you push a round object, then it general and more inclusive
will roll than principles.
 How do we know if a
Theory is Accurate?
Because theories are based on facts, we can test theoris by gathering facts that relate to the
theory.

Hypothesis- are made about what is expected to happen or which facts are expected to be
observed in a given situation.

Induction- when specific facts are used to create more general theories that explain those
facts
Deduction- when general theories are used to create specific facts that will help test those
theories.
Paradigm- a design or framework that can be used repeatedly for testing the relationship
within a set of variables or factors that affect behavior.
 Different Types of
Research
EXPERIMENTAL
SINGLE SUBJECT
Two groups, one receiving an
intervention, the other are not,
are compared on outcomes. The behavior of one student is
Ideally, students are assigned at a measured in its original state (baseline)
random to one of the two groups. and again after having received an
intervention or treatment
 Different Types of
Research
CORRELATIONAL
OBSERVATIONAL
Two or more sets of data, based
on test scores or observations,
are compared statistically to see Behavior is observed in naturally-
if there is a relationship between occurring situations, and those
them. observations and resulting conclusions
are reported.
 Thank You!
DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME?